I've Seen The Horror, I've Seen The Wonders
by Agentsofsuperwholocked
Summary: When Jemma finds herself thrown into a world she never even knew existed, she finds out more about her past than she ever wanted to know and maybe, just maybe, she finds something else along the way.
1. Prologue

She was lying on the carpet, a stack of paper in front of her, a pile of crayons beside her and an intense look of concentration on her face. He couldn't help the smile that crossed his face as he watched her there, drawing, having fun and enjoying herself like any eight-year-old should be.

He tried to push the thoughts out of his mind, ignore the twisting anxiety in his stomach. But he couldn't help it. He was her father after all. It was his job to worry about her. Especially when school was starting again tomorrow. Something that she hated.

But he hoped this new school, the one she was starting tomorrow, would be different. Would be better than what had come before. The teasing. The bullying.

This was her fifth school in the past four years. He hated that. Hated that she couldn't find somewhere, couldn't settle anywhere.

The other kids, they saw her as different, saw her as weird, and the teachers couldn't cope with her either. They called her disruptive in lessons, and inattentive, saying she refused to do her work. He had tried to talk to her about it, after the first time he had been called into school, and she had complained that the work was too easy, and it was boring, wasn't challenging enough.

He had always known she was smarter than others her age, and that wasn't just him saying it because he was her father. He was saying it because it was the truth.

She had spoken months before even doctors said it tended to happen, and was walking before he even thought it was possible. And countless nights were spent with Jemma sitting beside him, helping him fill in the _New York Times_ crossword, answering questions he didn't even know.

After that first talk with her principal, he had taken her out for ice cream, and had asked her if she wanted some workbooks aimed at those older than her, to challenge her. She had nodded, dripping chocolate ice cream everywhere.

And she had flown through them, and the ones after that. And the ones after that. At this point, he thought, she would be able to do University level work within the next two years.

But all of that, it didn't matter. Not if she was unhappy in school, something she still had to attend as he couldn't home-school her, not yet anyway. But at school, she had no friends and suffered socially and he hated that. He wanted the best for his daughter and feared that he wasn't doing that for her.

The chiming off the clock announcing eight distracted him from his thoughts.

And it also seemed to distract Jemma from what she was doing, from what she was drawing. She let out a sigh and sat up, looking at her father. "Do I have to?"

He nodded. "Sorry," he replied, bending down and lifting her. "Bed time. Big day tomorrow."

She dropped her gaze. "'Suppose."

"Hey." He lifted her chin, meeting her eyes. "Tomorrow is going to be okay. This school, they know about you. They're letting you do some of the harder work, it's not going to be like last time, and afterwards, ice cream? Yeah?"

She nodded her agreement. He could always win her over with ice cream. "Can I still have a bed time story?"

"Of course you can."

It was half an hour later, and she had brushed her teeth, and was curled up in bed. Her father had read her a chapter from her book before bed and was just about to leave when she called to him. "We'll be okay, won't we?"

He smiled at her but there was something there, something that she didn't quite understand. Was he worried about her? He never said he was but she could tell that he was. Could tell that he always worried.

And she hated that. Hated that she made him feel that way.

But still, he was smiling at her. "Yeah, we'll be okay."

As he made his way across the room, she couldn't help but think he was right. They had always been fine, just the two of them, ever since her mum walked out on them, when she was six months old.

She hadn't ever heard from her mum, and she hadn't tried to contact her dad either but it didn't matter.

They had each other.

They would always have each other.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he reached up and removed something from around his neck. All she could do was stare in shock. His necklace. The one he always wore. The one that had been passed down his family for generations and was supposed to protect the wearer.

It was an old wooden charm of intricate knots that hung on thread. He smiled at her, still staring in shock as he placed it over her head.

"I can't," she whispered shaking her head. "What about you?"

He shrugged. "I'll be fine and anyway, you need it more than me. Good luck for tomorrow, yeah?"

She nodded slowly, still scared to take the necklace, to take the protection it provided from her father.

"I love you," he told her again, placing a kiss on her forehead.

She nodded in agreement. "I love you too."

He stood up, adjusting her blankets once again and made his way across the room, and smiled at her before closing the door.

Jemma Anne Simmons couldn't sleep that night. It never came easy when she had school the next day, especially if she were starting a new one.

Even the soft murmur of the TV in the other room never helped.

She tossed and turned and was just about to get out of bed to talk to her dad when she heard it. The shouting.

She froze in place, and covered her ears with her hands. She never liked it when her dad shouted. But… who was he shouting at. She couldn't hear the words, just the angry tones of their voices and then…

A bang.

Then nothing.

She called out to him.

He didn't come.

Maybe he hadn't heard her.

She called again and again and again.

Tears began to stream down her face and her voice was heavy with fear, and shaking slightly.

She curled up on the bed, knees drawn up to her chest.

She wanted this to go away.

Whatever it was.

Eventually, footsteps echoed down the hall and she felt a wave of relief begin to wash over her…

But when the door opened, it wasn't her dad, instead it was a policewoman.

She frowned, wondering what they were doing at the house. Was everything okay?

"Jemma?" she asked.

Jemma nodded, knowing that it was okay to answer, that the police only wanted to help. And that her dad would be there in a moment anyway.

"I'm going to need you to come with me, that okay?"

Jemma shook her head. "I want my daddy."

A look flashed across the woman's face and she walked into the room, sitting on the bed. Jemma sat up, and reached for her necklace, fidgeting with it. "Is he okay?"

The policewomen took on of Jemma's hands in her own. "You're going to be okay. I promise you, you're going to be okay."

 **Sorry for that ending! I aim to update this at least once a week. It may be close to 30 chapters. Title from Jillian (I'd Give My Heart) by Within Temptation. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Isn't Something Missing?

20 Years Later

Jemma pushed back the curtain, looking out the window. The sky was an inky black, dotted here and there with tiny specks of light, some of the only stars that could still be seen.

She sighed, and knew that it was now or never. She had to leave if she wanted to pass on the supplies, to help those who were still stranded in the area. And she had to see her before they left. She had promised her that she would see them before they left, before they said goodbye.

And she couldn't break a promise. Especially not when it was a pinky promise.

She shook her head, and dropped her hand, allowing the curtain to fall back across the window and made her way across the room, kneeling on the floor in front of the coffee table.

She pulled the backpack closer to her, checking the supplies that she had managed to scavenge; first aid kit: check. Food and water: check. Wire cutters: check. Blankets: check. The tickets; check.

She leaned back on her heels. Everything was there. All she had to do now was transport it across town, to the safe house and hand it over to those who needed it. Easy enough… as long as she never got caught.

But she had done it before, she had had some close encounters but she had done it before.

Taking a breath to calm herself, she rubbed at her face with her hands and reached for the remote, turning on the television.

It was low, the voice on screen unable to be heard but seeing the headline scrolling across the screen was something that said it all.

10 new Inhumans caught by Hydra

Her stomach twisted. Another ten she wasn't able to help. She didn't care if state boundaries separated them, she wasn't able to help them. And now, now they were in Hydra's grasp, facing who knows what horrors.

She wanted to turn it up, to hear what Sunil Bakshi had to say, but she couldn't risk it. It was late, the clock on the wall showing it was just after one in the morning and she didn't want to draw any more attention to herself. Her neighbours were suspicious enough already of her: the young Brit who didn't seem to have any form of formal employment, who went out at all hours of the night and sometimes vanished for days only to come back with blood marring her face.

She couldn't risk any more attention being drawn to her. Of her neighbours finding out just who she was.

Finding out just what she was.

Focusing her attention back to the screen, one of Hydra's top agents was talking, doing a report. She didn't want to know any more about it so she turned the screen off, while trying not to vomit and threw the remote onto the sofa, the object bouncing twice before settling on the threadbare fabric.

She rose, and swung the backpack over her shoulder, then crossed her apartment, and flicked off the lights, then she took once last glance before closing the door and locking it behind her.

As she hurried through the darkened streets, her figure was hunched and she kept herself to herself. There were few people on the streets, and not one of them gave her more than a glance. The backstreets of town, the areas were Hydra's control wasn't secure, where areas were someone could walk with a hood up and a backpack and no one would bat an eyelash. These areas where areas where those that Hydra hunted tended to hide but it still wasn't safe.

Nowhere was safe.

If someone had to, they would let a neighbour get caught, lead Hydra to their whereabouts if it meant that they themselves remained safe.

The areas were only a community in the name and the name alone. There was nothing friendly, inviting and warm about it.

Friendships, they didn't matter here. Survival was the only thing that mattered and people would do anything to survive.

Especially in the world that they lived in now.

Quickening her pace, Jemma checked her watch, making sure that she was going to be there on time. She couldn't be late. Not again. But she was, as long as she didn't get caught up in anything, she was going to be on time.

As she turned down one street she saw the one thing that she didn't want to see.

An attack.

It wasn't the first one that she had seen, and she knew it wouldn't be the last, but it was still hard to see.

It was a man, who looked about her age, but the attackers, they ranged from what seemed to be young teens to people older than her.

And she knew what he was.

Inhuman.

The man was begging, pleading them to stop. He was in pain and blood coated his face. Once he saw Jemma, a figure walking past that wasn't taking part in the violence, he turned his attention to her, calling out to her, begging her to save him.

But Jemma couldn't. It was too much of a risk. And she had somewhere to go.

"Please!" he called out to her, one last time. His voice bled pain but Jemma simply ignored him, ducking her head and quickening her pace.

There was one last cry of please, then one of pain and Jemma was out of earshot of him, fighting back tears.

She made it to the fence, with still half an hour to spare. She allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. All she had to do now was cut a hole into the chain links and make her way across the field to where they would be waiting for her and pass them the backpack, holding up her end of the bargain. And if they held up their end, well she would be slightly richer tonight and be able to afford something other than beans and toast for dinner tomorrow.

She set the bag down and rummaged through it once again, pulling out the wire cutters. What she was about to do was risky, she knew that Hydra would soon discover that their precious fence had been cut and if anyone saw her doing it (not that they could see her, in a dark jacket with the hood pulled up, but still… it wasn't a risk that she wanted to take.), it wouldn't be good news for her.

Reaching forward, she grabbed at the fence and cut into the first wire, wincing when the snip, quiet as it maybe, reverberated around the darkness. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder but she was alone, there was no one there.

So she continued cutting away at the fence, and once she had cut a hole that was large enough to fit through. She grabbed the bag, and pulled it after her as she did so, the ends of the metal scratched at her face, leaving tiny trails of red on her cheek.

But she was through and smiled, she was so close to succeeding. She had almost made it. It was just a ten-minute walk across a field and then her task would be done.

It was when she was kneeling on the ground, the grass damp and soaking her jeans that she heard it. The sound of an aircraft up above her. She looked up but saw nothing. No plane, no helicopter, no spotlight.

Maybe she missed it. Maybe it had flown in a different direction and she was simply just hearing it.

Or the aircraft was cloaked. She had heard rumours underground that Hydra was developing cloaking technology but she had hoped it was only that, rumour. And if it wasn't… that it was years off.

But it wasn't. It was real and it was working and there was a high chance that they had seen her and now, now it wasn't just her at risk.

Slinging the bag back over her shoulder, she took over running, stumbling on the uneven ground but she didn't care. Not anymore.

After a number of minutes, her breathing was laboured. She wasn't being careful with her breathing and her lungs burned as she continued to run.

After just over five minutes, she made it to the abandoned shed she was to meet them at. It was larger than that of a conventional garden shed, used for tending the open areas around it but it had been emptied of all gardening equipment and the corrugated roof was caving in. She stood outside it, steadying her breathing and knocked three times.

"Jemma?" the voice inside asked.

"Yeah," she panted out and the door opened slightly and she was pulled in.

The shed itself wasn't that much darker than outside, with only a large LED camping light in the far corner casting an orange glow around the room.

"You got it?" the voice, the man, asked again. No, not really a man. He was twenty, still just a kid really. Thrown into a world that made him grow up quicker than anyone should have.

Jemma nodded, sliding off the backpack and passing it to him.

Nick accepted it, but still cast a weary glare at her and began searching through it.

"I assure you, it's all there," Jemma said but her tone was agitated. Something was off, and at this moment, she couldn't put her finger on it.

Eventually, Nick nodded and passed the bag back to someone who accepted it. He then reached to the side table and passed her the money. "$1500."

Jemma accepted it with thanks, flicking through the notes quickly.

"It's all there," Nick joked.

"I trust you." She said, folding the notes and placing it in her jacket pocket. "Are you leaving tonight?"

Nick nodded. "Once Eliza and John return."

"Eliza?" Jemma asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. There was nothing wrong. Not yet, there was nothing to worry about. "She's not here?" Jemma glanced around the room and saw that Nick was right. Eliza and John weren't here. "Where is she?"

Nick sighed and Jemma could see the pain in his eyes. "She wanted to go to the play park before we left. We've not heard from them…"

"How long?" Jemma demanded. "How long?"

Nick shrugged. "About two hours ago."

Jemma ran her hands through her hair and spun, looking around the room and trying to work out what to do next. Her breathing was becoming more rapid and she knew, she knew she had to calm herself down, to think through this logically. "We need to find her. Hydra, they're out there, that plane that flew overhead… Hydra."

"You saw it?" Nick asked, and fear and panic started to spread, passing from person to person in the room, an infectious wave. "They're here?"

"I never saw it, maybe I missed. Maybe it was nothing. But you know the rumours about Hydra."

"The cloaking technology?"

Jemma nodded. "I need to find her. She could be in danger." She blinked a number of times, trying to hold back the tears but it didn't work. The first tear escaped, clinging to her lashes for a moment before making a path down her face. "I'm going to find her."

She turned to leave but someone grabbed her arm. Nick. His face was pale and he was shaking his head. "You can't just go out there. You're unarmed."

Jemma pulled her arm out of his grip and reached into her pocket before handing him the money back. "Take it," she demanded once he refused. "Take it!"

Nick shook his head and Jemma just set it down on the table again. "I can't risk being caught with $1500 on me. They're going to figure out I'm smuggling supplies. I'm not putting you at risk." She turned to look at one of the other Inhumans in the room, a girl of fifteen, holding out a blade but Jemam just shook her head. "I'm not taking it. You know my policy." She looked around the room, at these kids who had been thrown into a war zone, who were being hunted because they were different. "I'll get her back. I promise."

And with that, she left the shed, intending to make good on her promise.

She made her away back across the uneven ground, at a gentler jog as she was unable to run, her lungs hurting too much and oxygen burning her airway but it wasn't fast enough. She had to find Eliza. She had to.

The girl was only seven. She didn't deserve this. She deserved so much better.

And what the tickets in the backpack offered was just that. A chance a way from here, somewhere where people like her weren't hunted.

Somewhere where she could be a child.

The play park wasn't far and she reached it in moments. But she never entered. Instead, she stood at the gate, a rusted metal that reached just below her waist, staring in at the area that was supposed to symbolise innocence and childhood.

It was empty, deserted. A gentle breeze blew one of the swings back and forth, the old chains creaking. Composing herself, Jemma lifted one leg, and then swung it over the locked gate before lifting the other and doing the same.

When her shoes touched the soft asphalt, and rose again, there was something sticky there. She knelt down, touching the substance and lifting it. In the faint twinkle of the stars, she could see it for what it was.

Blood.

She fell back, suppressing a scream.

But that wasn't the worst thing she saw.

No, the worst thing was what was causing the puddle of blood.

It was John.

Shot. Killed. A bullet to the head.

Jemma felt physical ill and it took all her strength not to vomit there and then.

He was killed because of who he was.

She closed her eyes and titled her head back, trying to compose herself. John was only twenty-five, the eldest Inhuman in the group she had found, in the group she had sworn to bring to safety. She had failed him, she had failed them.

No. Not all of them. Not yet. Eliza was still out here, alive. And she was going to get her and bring her to safety.

"Eliza!" Jemma called out, her voice a low but gentle hiss, so as not to alert any Hydra solders that might still be waiting in the area. Her eyes darted across the playground and she called out to the girl one more time when she spotted it, lying in the sandpit.

The stuffed dog, Hazelnut, that Eliza carried everywhere.

"No," Jemma whispered, stumbling over to the sandpit and picking it up. "No." She brushed the sand of it, and her fingers grazed against something tucked into the collar of the dog. It was a piece of paper. She pulled it out, and unfolded it. It took some time but eventually she was able to read what was written on it. Two simple words:

Hail Hydra.

They had her. They had her and were sending a message. She just knew it.

She was just formulating her next move when she heard it, footsteps echoing behind her. Her breath caught in her throat and she tried to quieten her breath but it didn't work. It was too loud and thundered in the empty night.

She knew she had to escape but she couldn't. There was nowhere to run.

Hydra had found her.

"Put your hands in the air," a voice called out. "And no one needs to get hurt."

 **A lot of these elements are Framework-y and it helped to give me the idea. Thanks for all the support so far, hope you enjoyed this one. Title from Missing by Evanescence.**


	3. But I'm Still Having Nightmares

The fluorescent lights blinked on, signalling morning. He groaned rolling over in the bed and burying his face in the pillow. He had hoped he had more time before he had to wake up. More time before the day began. But he didn't.

The night had been hard, the dreams overwhelming him again, stealing sleep from him. Every time he closed his eyes, the icy cold tendrils of horror wrapped around him, pulling him into horror, one that froze his body and starved him of oxygen. He always awoke, panting and covered in sweat but shivering at the same time, a tangle of limbs in the blankets. He mustn't have had more than three hours sleep that night. And he knew that it would only get worse over the next number of days.

He sighed, rolling back over and staring up at the ceiling. Due to the age of the base most of the base along with the bunks had been redone, helping to ensure that there were no structural issues. S.H.I.E.L.D. was already low on numbers, low on agents. The last thing that they needed was for the base to cave in on itself.

He rubbed at his eyes, and then frowned. There was a crack running along the roof. He wondered if it had always been there. He was sure he would have noticed it if it had been. He was so lost in thought about a simple crack in plaster that he almost missed someone knocking on the door.

"Two minutes!" he called out. He sat up, rubbing at his face again and yawned before swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. His feet made contact with floor, cold in the early morning. He closed his eyes and let out a long low breath. He wasn't ready for today. Not at all but he knew that he had to deal with it, just as he had before, and just as he would in the future.

Another knock on the door but this time, it seemed as though it was one of concern. "Fitz?" Daisy's voice called out. "Are you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah!" he replied, hoping that his lie was convincing enough for Daisy. "Just getting dressed." He reached for his trousers and slid them on, fastening the buckle of his belt. His shirt, which had been hidden under his trousers, was what he grabbed for next. He lifted it, and under the light, he could see that it wasn't something that he could wear again. He threw it back onto the floor and stood up, making his way to the chest of drawers, pulling open it and searching through it.

Finally, he found a shirt, a soft blue one and he slid it on, buttoning it up. Kneeling down, he reached under the dresser and pulled out his shoes. Sliding them on, he finally made his way to the door and opened it, finding Daisy smiling there.

He smiled at Daisy but Daisy didn't seem convinced. "The nightmares?" she asked tentatively, as if she were scared she was overstepping her mark.

Fitz wanted to lie, to say it was something else, anything else. That he and Hunter had stayed up too late, had one too many drinks. But it was Daisy, his closest friend, the woman who was like a sister to him. He couldn't lie to her. He slowly nodded. "Yeah… yeah it was that."

Daisy reached out and took one of his hands in her own, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "That's okay."

"Is it?" he asked, tying to keep the anger and the bitterness out of his tone but failing. He realised his mistake once he saw a look of pain pass across Daisy's face, a look of pity. "Sorry."

She shook her head, as if didn't matter, as if it were no big deal. "It doesn't matter. It's been three years now Fitz. Three years exactly. It's natural to have nightmares."

"But I don't have nightmares the rest of the year, they've gone, faded, but it's just around this time, it makes me feel…" he sighed, waving his hand in a vague shrugging motion as if to show he had no idea what he was trying to say. "It makes me feel as if I've not recovered."

Daisy seemed to disagree, shaking her head. "Bullshit. That's bullshit and you know it Fitz. Look how much you've progressed."

"But the dreams…" he tried to reply. "They just make me feel worthless."

"You only have dreams when it comes up to… when it happened. The rest of the year you're fine. It's natural to feel like this after what you went through. It's hard, and I'm not going to say that I understand what you went through because I don't. But you survived and just look where you are now… no one thought you were going to pull through but you did. And once you did, no one thought you would be able to work again and here you are, head of the science department. And the best engineer I know." She offered him a smile.

"I'm the only engineer you know," he replied, going along with Daisy because she was right after all, and even though the doubts still remained, lined at the corners of his mind, Daisy was right. He had survived and he had pulled through.

Daisy pouted and bumped him with her shoulder. "That's not true. What about the whole engineering department?" And before he could reply to that, she pulled him out of the room, leaving him to pull the door shut behind him. She continued to drag him down the corridor, the engineer stumbling over his feet trying to keep up with the Inhuman.

At one point she even shook his arm up and down, as if she were an impatient child. "C'mon Fitz! Hunter's making a fry. I'm not missing that!"

He frowned, staring at the piece of technology in his hand. He had been trying to improve it for weeks now, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing he was doing was working. He had spent the past year developing it, and it had worked, allowing the Quinn Jets to be cloaked whenever it was activated but it was on temporary, lasting only an hour, maybe two, at a time. To Fitz, that wasn't good enough.

Coulson said he didn't mind, not yet anyway, and had installed the technology on one of the planes but Fitz was still working on trying to improve it, to make it better. It had to be better. It had to be. Not when there were so many lives at risk, not when there were so many people in danger.

Not that there were many Inhumans left on the streets anyway. Most had gone into hiding, or underground. It was safer, safer than staying on the streets where anyone could turn them into Hydra. But there were few who remained where they were, people who couldn't afford to go underground.

But the fight against Hydra, to make the world a safe place, and not just for Inhumans, it wasn't going as well as they wanted.

It was a fight they were losing currently, Hydra capturing more and more Inhumans and doing who knows what to them.

And Fitz hated it, knowing that there was people suffering because he wasn't good enough, his technology wasn't good enough. But he wasn't going to let that happen, not anymore.

He set the cloaking tile, along with a screwdriver back down on his workbench, and leaned back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head. He was tempted to take a break, to clear his head. It was just after three in the afternoon according to the clock on his computer, and he had been working on it since just after nine. He hadn't even stopped for lunch. So maybe taking a break, getting something to eat and a mug of tea wouldn't be a bad idea, allow him to clear his mind, and come back afresh.

But it also meant that he wouldn't be focusing on something, and his mind could wander. It could wander back to that day, three years ago now, the day that was clearly burned into his mind and couldn't be forgotten.

Sighing, he pushed himself back from his desk and exited the lab, making his way down the corridors of the Playground, the old S.S.R. base they were using, and had been using for the past two years. Thankfully Hydra hadn't any record of it, Fury making sure of that before his death, which meant they were safe here for another while.

Walking into the kitchen, he found Hunter sitting at the table, reviewing a file. Hearing Fitz approach he looked up and offered a smile.

Fitz returned it, making his way to the fridge, opening it and looking inside, trying to find anything to eat.

"You okay?" Hunter asked. "I never saw you at lunch."

Fitz removed his head from the fridge, and was clutching some of the ingredients necessary to make a sandwich. "What? Oh, yeah, yeah I just wasn't hungry."

Hunter looked at him, as if he were trying to work out the Scot, as if he were trying to decipher Fitz but in the end, he didn't say anything, didn't press the issue. "Rumour has it," he settled on instead, "Coulson has a mission planned for later."

"Who told you that?" Fitz asked, now slightly curious. Missions weren't as common as they used to be, the funding low, and it was too risky. "Daisy?"

"Coulson called her into his office earlier and she hasn't been seen since. May went in too."

Fitz stared at Hunter, thinking this through. "You think we'll be called in?" he asked, carrying the food over to the counter and reaching for a loaf of bread, beginning to make his sandwich. "Or is it one of those ones that just May and Daisy get put on?"

Hunter shrugged, closing the file. "Who knows. Who knows."

As it turned out, there was a mission planned that day, Coulson calling a briefing just after six in the evening. Fitz had headed back to the lab after his late lunch, but had made no progress on the clocking technology, so he was somewhat glad of the mission.

It was something different, and that he was looking forward to.

But, upon entering the Director's office, he found that not many had been called to the mission; it was himself and Hunter, along with May, Daisy, Bobbi, Davis and Piper. It seemed that Coulson wanted few people on this mission. Maybe to reduce the chance of casualties. Maybe he simply couldn't afford it this month. Whatever the case, it didn't matter.

"Who is she?" Hunter asked, staring at the picture of the woman on the screen. The quality wasn't the best and looked as though it had been taken from CCTV footage. It was grainy, and the woman herself in the picture looked as though she was trying to avoid having her picture captured, her hood up and head down. But it had failed, and she had been caught on footage.

"Jemma Steranko, or to give her her birth name, Jemma Simmons."

"What's with the name thing?" Hunter replied. "Is it an undercover thing or something?"

Coulson shook his head, and his expression looked grim. "Her father was murdered when she was eight. She was placed in emergency foster care and was then adopted and took on the family name."

"And what's she to do with us?" Fitz asked, staring at the woman on the screen, trying to piece together this mission that Coulson was presenting them with.

Daisy took point this time, standing at the opposite side of the screen from Coulson. "We don't know much about her. There's nothing about her online. No schooling records, no medical records, no employment history. Not even a drunken selfie, nothing. It seems as if she doesn't exist or…"

"She erased her records, all traces of herself," Fitz thought aloud.

Daisy pointed at him. "Bingo. It seems as if she wiped all her records, we don't know when, we don't know how and we don't know why. But we've been keeping an eye out for her for a while. I've still been in contact with a few Inhumans, those who remained above ground and they've told me she's one of the best for helping to get them out of the country."

"She's a smuggler?" Hunter asked, his arms folded across his chest. He nodded, as though impressed.

"And she's on the move tonight."

"We're bringing her in?" Bobbi asked. "Would she like that? Would she even want to come?"

Coulson spoke again this time. "Rumour has it Hydra are also after her. They want to put her down apparently, and that… we can't let that happen. If we can get to her first, get her to come with us, then maybe, just maybe she can help us. Bobbi, Davis, Piper, you're going into the field with May and Daisy."

"And what about us Sir?" Hunter asked, gesturing between him and Fitz. "Are we not doing anything."

Coulson looked at the mercenary. It had been a long day and at this point, he wasn't prepared to deal with Hunter. "You two are staying here and helping with comms."

"Am I not getting one?" Daisy protested as Fitz passed the helmet with the attached night vision goggles to Piper. "I always get one."

Fitz turned to face her. "You broke the last one I gave you."

She pouted. "Technically it wasn't me."

"You headbutted a Hydra operative whilst wearing them!"

"Exactly," Daisy said, sliding on her gauntlets. "So it was his head that broke them."

Fitz laughed, and walked over to the laptop that had been set up, wanting to check that the goggles were working fine. "I'll make you a new set for the next mission. Or the mission after that. Depends."

"You still struggling with the cloaking?"

"Yeah, and not only that, I can't get the engines silenced. Well I can if I turn off all other features of the Jets such as navigation, heating and oxygen…"

"And those are kinda vital."

"Yeah."

Daisy walked past him, towards the door. She had stayed behind to talk to him, most of the others having already headed to the hangar (except Piper who was waiting in the corridor), and as she passed him, she gave him a gentle squeeze on the shoulder, as if to reassure him.

"Just stay safe," he told her. "Don't take any unnecessary risks!"

Daisy faked a look of disbelief. "When would I ever? Fitzy, I thought you knew me better than that."

Fitz shook his head again, checking that everything was okay on the screen. "I mean it Daisy. Bobbi doesn't want to be pulling any more bullets out of your shoulders."

"Yes sir!"

And with that, she was gone. The door closed behind him and Hunter pulled up a chair, taking his place beside Fitz. "You ready?"

Fitz gave a heavy sigh. He knew they would be stuck here, unable to do anything and the mission might not even be a success. He hated being stuck on base, and he knew that Hunter did too. They had hoped when there was rumour of a mission that they would be leaving, be able to go outside, but that hadn't been the case. "As ready as I can be. It could take hours."

Hunter let out a breath and lifted something out of his pocket. Chocolate. "You think I didn't come prepared?"

"Is that Daisy's?" Fitz asked. "You know she'll break your bed again. And your Liverpool shirt just about survived what she did to it last time."

"Fitz," Hunter said, in an affectionate tone. He wrapped an arm around the engineer's shoulder. "Daisy owes you. How many dwarves has she broke? How many pranks has she played on you? Eating one, maybe two, of her bars of chocolate, it's only fair." He held up the item in question, and Fitz pondered it for a moment, then snatched it out of Hunter's hand, unwrapping it and placing a piece in his mouth.

He couldn't say no.

Hunter had put forward a convincing argument; it was only fair after all.

Hours passed before the team reached the location that Jemma was rumoured to be visiting tonight. Daisy had told them that her contact had mentioned that tonight, Jemma would only be dropping supplies tonight. They had a time and a location.

Fitz worried about it though, the mission. He was scared it was a set up. It was desperate times they lived in, where people resorted to anything and everything to survive. He didn't want his team falling into Hydra's hands because someone had tipped them off to stay alive.

"Fitz?" Daisy's voice echoed through the comms. "We're at the location. Heat sensors are picking up someone in the playpark close by."

"You think it could be Jemma?" he asked as he looked at the screen. Piper had turned on the goggles and he was now seeing what she was seeing. "Piper, you're okay. We're seeing what you're seeing."

"Awesome, thanks."

"Yeah," Daisy spoke again. "We think it's her. We're moving in."

"Be careful," Fitz warned again, knowing that with the other agents there, there would be a better chance of Daisy listening. "Don't do anything stupid and if you need to leave, leave."

"I promise," Daisy replied. "We're going to have to go dark for the moment. Just until we know it's safe."

Fitz sat back in his chair.

"You're nervous?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, yeah. We just can't afford to lose any more agents, not now."

Hunter nodded in agreement. "Let's just hope this goes well."

Fitz didn't reply to this, just watched the screen as their team made their way towards the playpark. Bobbi lead the way, and pushed open the small gate, slightly rusted. She motioned for the team to stop, and Fitz saw then that there was a figure in the sandpit, crouched. They were looking at something. Bobbi took a step forward, after motioning for the rest of the team to wait.

"Put your hands in the air and no one needs to get hurt."

Her voice was stern, commanding and the figure did just that, rising slightly, and never once did they drop the stuffed dog. Their back was still Bobbi, who didn't seem very happy with that, but their arms where in the air and it was clear they were unarmed. "Face me," was the next command that she issued and the figure paused hesitating.

"Is that her?" Hunter asked, staring at the figure on the screen, the figure that Piper was seeing through the night vision goggles. They spun on the screen, a stuffed dog held aloft in one hand, a panicked expression on her face.

Fitz nodded, rubbing at the back of his neck. He remains silent for a moment. "Yeah, yeah it is her."

 **Title from Nightmares by All Time Low. Thanks for checking out, hope you enjoyed this one!**


	4. Please

"Please," she begged. "Please." She could hear the desperation in her voice, and she hated it. Hated how weak she sounded, how pathetic she sounded, but she couldn't help it.

The woman standing opposite her, tall and blonde took a step forward, weapon raised and pointed at her chest. It wasn't the first time she had a gun pointed at her, and she knew that it wouldn't be the last. With what she did, it was an occupational hazard.

"Please," Jemma tried again, knowing that it was useless to beg. That Hydra would never let her go, not after all she had done for the Inhumans. "Please. Don't hurt me."

The blonde shook her head. "We're not going to hurt you, we're not Hydra Jemma."

"How do you know my name?"

Another woman stepped forward. She seemed closer to Jemma's height, if only a bit taller and she seemed to be wearing metal gauntlets of some description. "You've helped a couple of friends of mine, Sam Simpson. Markus Brown. You got them out of here, brought them to safety. And you were helping John tonight. Him and his group. You were taking them to safety."

"John's dead," Jemma whispered, her voice breaking. "He was murdered."

The other woman, the one with the gauntlets paled. "Where is he?"

Jemma pointed to the other side of the playpark, where she had found John earlier and the woman spun, seeing the body for the first time. She cursed under her breath, not even going to investigate because it was obvious that John was dead. After taking a moment, the woman turned back to face her, and took a step forward. "Jemma, I'm Daisy. And this is Bobbi," she said, gesturing to the blonde woman. "We're with S.H.I.E.L.D. We can help you. We want to help you. But first you need to trust us."

"No," Jemma said, her voice heavy with sobs and tears streaming down her face. "No, you can't be. S.H.I.E.L.D fell. It fell."

"It did," the woman called Bobbi seemed to confirm. "But not all of us were Hydra. Some of us went into hiding. We're working with Inhumans, helping them. We want to keep them safe. Daisy here is an Inhuman."

Jemma turned her attention back to Daisy, and frowned. "Prove it. Prove you're Inhuman."

Daisy stepped forward and raised one arm, pointing it at the swing set. Then within seconds one of the swings swung backwards violently, flying so far back that it wrapped itself around the top beam, the metal of the chain clanging, shockingly loud in the silent night.

"See," Daisy offered with a smile. "It's safe. You can trust you."

"Then let me go," Jemma asked. "Let me go, please."

"We can't," Bobbi told her, a look of pity across her face. "Hydra are after you, you're at risk if you stay out in the open. Hydra are after you and they want to put you down. Kill you."

Jemma froze, fear turning her blood to ice. "They're after me?" Suddenly everything involving Eliza made sense. They had taken her, and left a message to get to Jemma. She should have known from the moment she saw the note. She should have. But to hear someone say it…

A nod from Bobbi. "We don't want to hurt you Jemma, but it's too dangerous. You can't stay out here."

Jemma shook her head, taking another step back, but she didn't notice the edge of the sandpit, and she fell backwards, landing hard on the ground. A jolt of pain shot up her back. "Please, you have to let me go. I need to get to Eliza, I need to find her."

"Eliza?" Bobbi asked, genuine concern in her voice. "Who's Eliza?"

Jemma looked at the stuffed dog that she was holding. "She's seven. Hydra… they took her. They have her. And I need to… I need to find her, I need to save her. I promised her, I swore to her that I would keep her safe. Please, you have to let me get to her."

Bobbi shook her head, and made her way closer to Jemma, kneeling down beside her, offering to help her up. Jemma stared at her hand and after a moments pause, accepted the help up.

Bobbi gave a soft smile, glad that they had gotten through to Jemma. But the relief was short lived, as Jemma shoved her hard to the side and took off running across the playpark. But she never made it far, she hadn't even reached the gate when the world went black and she collapsed to the ground.

"What the hell?" Bobbi demanded, staring at the unconscious form of Jemma on the ground. She spun back to face the team and saw May putting away an Icer.

"She wasn't going to come," May said by way of explanation. "Or would rather Hydra had put a bullet in her?"

Bobbi didn't answer, and walked over to Jemma, rolling her over to check for any injuries. Somehow, despite falling face first onto the ground, the only injury was a slight graze to the forehead, with only a small amount of blood. "She's fine," Bobbi called to the team, lifting the smaller woman into her arms. "Back to base?"

May nodded, and made to leave the part when Daisy pointed out something that the others seemed to have forgotten. "John, what are we doing about him? We can't leave him here. Not where anyone could see him. Not where kids could see him."

May sighed. She didn't have time for this. Coulson had given them a mission and they didn't have time for this. Not now. But Daisy was right. They couldn't leave the body there, not in a playpark. Not where children could see him. She looked around at her team; at Jemma in Bobbi's arms, then sighed. "Davis, take him. We'll deal with the body back at base."

And with that, she headed back to the Quinn Jet.

Fitz knew that Jemma would have to be Iced, in fact it was him who had given May the command. Jemma had been panicking, refusing to come in. And he knew that Jemma would be somewhat angry when she awoke, back on base but it was the best option that they had.

Hydra was rumoured to be hunting her, wanting to kill her and she was important. Coulson said she was; he had said she was important. That she knew Inhumans better than most, how they acted, and where they were. That she might be able to help bring down Hydra and create a better world; one where Hydra wasn't in charge and Inhumans weren't being hunted on the streets.

But there had been something in his tone when he had given them the information about her, something suspicious, as if he were holding back information about Jemma, as if he knew something that they didn't.

"Fitz," May's voice echoed through the comms. They were back on the Quinn Jet, Fitz having seen through Piper's goggles. "We're heading back to base. Get a containment pod ready."

"Yeah, yeah sure," he said. "We'll get that ready for you coming back. How long do you think you'll be?"

"No more than three hours." May said.

Fitz reached forward for the laptop again, closing down the program that was used for the night vision goggles, all being well. "Piper, you can take them off now. Just don't let Daisy have them."

On the other end, Daisy gave out a long groan annoyance, as though she were some child who was being denied something, and Fitz supposed that was true. Daisy was like such a big child when it came to technology.

"Fitz, prep medical team as well." Bobbi's voice came through. Of course they would need a medical team ready, they wold need to do an evaluation of Jemma, to make sure she was okay and that there was no injuries she had. And then there was the issue of John…

Fitz had only heard them discussing him, and seen only what Piper saw. And it hadn't been pleasant; someone, presumably Inhuman, Daisy's contact, had been murdered, a bullet put through his brain. Fitz didn't know why, maybe to send a message, maybe it was making a point, maybe Jemma knew more about it, but whatever it was, he knew who had done it. Hydra. Of course it had been Hydra. There was no one else it could be.

"Of course," Fitz said, "We'll have that ready for you coming back to base. Just… safe travels."

"Of course," Bobbi said. "We'll see you soon."

And that was that.

The mission was nearly over. The fieldwork part had went well, none of their team had been injured. Now it was just getting back to base and dealing with whatever came next.

"Well," Hunter said, breaking the silence that had formed in the room, "Looks like we've work to do."

"Yeah," Fitz said, but his voice was distant, as if he were thinking of something else. "Yeah, we do."

They were close to base now and Jemma was still asleep, the dendrotoxin not having worn off yet. She still had the stuffed toy dog, Daisy presumed it belonged to Eliza, the girl that Jemma seemed desperate to find. The one that Hydra took.

A sinking sensation of guilt settled into her stomach, had they done the right thing, taking Jemma like this, bringing her back to base when there were other things that were so obviously important to her. Had they done the right, not allowing Jemma to go after Hydra?

She stood up, unable to take it anymore, and looked around; Bobbi was talking to Piper in hushed tones and the body of John was covered up with a blanket. Sighing, she made her way to the cockpit where Davis and May where.

"You can take a break," she told Davis who looked at her, and started to protest, saying that it was okay, they were almost back at base anyway. "No, it's fine seriously."

The other agent rose from the chair and ducked out of the cockpit whilst Daisy took his seat and slid on the head piece. "You're worried that we did the wrong thing."

Daisy glanced over at the older agent. "How did you know?"

Not once did May look at her but she continued to speak. "You're tense. You've been anxious the whole ride home and you keep looking at the stuffed dog."

"I just can't… Jemma's gonna be pissed when she wakes up. She seems to care for that girl and Hydra has her…" Daisy shook her head, unable to believe that world that she lived in. It had been eight years since Hydra had come out of hiding, using the Terrigen crisis to their advantage, using people's fears to promise a new world order and peace. And people had accepted it, seeing them as a way of stopping the rise of Inhumans (as opposed to how S.H.I.E.L.D. had helping Inhumans and welcoming them into society, but people didn't want that). But as time progressed, Hydra had taken their rule, one of a dictatorial nature, further, and check points where set up in cities, ID's where checked, and then they began testing everyone and anyone, and people started disappearing of the streets. It didn't take a genius to work out that they carried the gene.

May sighed and turned to face Daisy, the woman she saw as a daughter. "We can get her back, the girl." A pause, as if May was considering what she was going to say next. "And we will get the girl back. But not now. It's too dangerous. We need to make a plan, we can't just storm Hydra. And we couldn't let her go in. They would have killed her instantly."

"Yeah…" Daisy said, knowing that the older woman was right. "I just wish Coulson told us why we're bringing her in."

"He told us; she's one of the best. She knows Inhumans better than anyone."

Daisy frowned but May never saw, having turned her attention back outside once more. "I just wish he told us more, told us who exactly she is. I think he knows…" She ended up trailing off, as May signalled to base that they were close by and to get ready. She let out a frustrated sigh. She hated when Coulson kept secrets from them, but there was so few of them left now, and this was the last thing that they needed; more secrets.

She just sighed as she leaned back in her seat, as the Quinn Jet started to descend.

She was still sleeping off the effects of the dendrotoxin when they placed her into one of the containment pods. She had passed all her medical examinations, there was nothing wrong with her barring a few small cuts and scratches on her face that would heal with time, they wouldn't even scar. The stuffed dog she had brought with her, the one that had belonged to the Inhuman girl who had been taken by Hydra and was sitting on the dresser in the room, as if it were keeping watch over everything.

"Fitz," came Hunter's voice from beside him. "You don't have to stay here."

"She's gonna be so upset," he replied, his voice low. Daisy had talked to him after debriefing. Although he had seen what Piper had seen, he hadn't been to hear all of what they had heard, so Daisy had explained it all. Saying that Hydra had taken the child, for what reason, she didn't know but she figured it was as means of drawing Jemma out. They wanted her, and knew she cared about the girl, it made logical sense. It also helped, in Daisy's opinion, to explain how John had died. He must have died defending her. She had also said just how distressed Jemma had been, how she had begged and pleaded for them not to take her in, to allow her to go and get the girl instead. Fitz almost regretted his decision to tell May to Ice her and bring her in, but he knew it was for the best.

Hydra would have killed her, and maybe not immediately. If she had as many connections to the Inhumans as Daisy said, then they would have tortured her, tried to get as much information out of her that they could. So this here, having Jemma on base, using her to help them, it was safer. It was better than the alternative. At least this way, there was a better chance of rescuing Eliza.

"She's gonna be so upset," he repeated, turning to face Hunter. "She wanted to rescue that girl, Eliza. She's gonna be so upset."

Hunter nodded, then looked at Jemma, at the gentle rise and fall of her chest. She was starting to toss and turn on the bed, the dendrotoxin starting to wear off. "She's still going to be under for what, another hour or so?"

Fitz nodded. "Yeah, yeah."

"Then let's get a beer."

Fitz stared at his friend. "Is that all you think about?"

"It's after six in the morning, we've been up for nearly a day. The mission was a success. We brought her in, none of our team got hurt. We deserve this."

Fitz cast once more anxious glace at Jemma before turning back to Hunter, then nodded slowly. He was right. They had been up for twenty-four hours now. The mission had been a success. They deserved a break. So Fitz nodded. "Yeah, yeah."

Hunter smiled. "Let's go. I'll make breakfast again."

"Just don't burn the bacon again."

"One time! It happened one time!"

Fitz just shook his head laughing, and followed Hunter down the corridor, leaving Jemma in the containment pod, still asleep and oblivious to what the next number of hours would hold.


End file.
